
Magana – I’m Not Doing Anything
The modern music documentary has been a plight of several generations of would-be musicians and artists who have grown up enjoying them. We should all be familiar with the Behind the Music format that all docs now use. Act I: Trouble and talent. Act II: Great, followed by horrible failures. Act III: Redemption and more success.
Put the whole of your life through those kinds of predictable movements, and everything makes sense. What’s more, every sacrifice or fork in the road seems part of a greater plan.
But even fascinating people get bored of the world and of themselves. Even the most interesting person in the room is left with nothing to say once in a while. And…err… even children sing the blues, eh?
“Some people complain about their dreams/But I am counting breaths just to get some sleep.” That’s the great line that ties together Magana’s “I’m Not Doing Anything,” a beautiful piece of pop-melancholy about days zooming past at a snail’s pace. The song works as a whole, as a soundtrack to a not-yet-filmed movie. But pay special attention to the tenderness of the vocals and the dreamy production; you may even enjoy this more.
Juno Dunes – Baby’s Back
Who needs to write fancy words and figure out how to string them together when you have sounds? Those do the trick much better most of the time. Are you telling me that Gene Vincent actually came up with the immortal line “be bop a-lula, she’s my baby”? Or what kind of brand of genius must Marc Bolan have been if it only took him two seconds to figure out that he could sing “Get It on/Bang a Gong” and get a response from people?
Children would make the greatest songwriters. Bob Dylan might want to convince a kindergarten class to drop by his studio every once in a while. He could then interview all of the kids and write songs about it. Pablo Picasso always said that he spent his entire life trying to re-learn how to paint like a kid. And you can understand why.
Juno Dunes’ “Baby’s Back” is the perfect rock n’ roll love song because it’s really a nursery rhyme set to music. But it’s a great, simple hook that drives it. “Baby’s back/How ‘bout that.” It’s so simple that it’s practically the work of genius. Besides the music is fun, and lacks the weight and baggage of most modern love songs. These kinds of tunes are supposed to be right laugh, and Dunes provides it. How ‘bout that?